The University of Texas research team headed by Dr. Walter Hu hopes to make solar cells for cellphones, laptops and other mobile gadgets quite affordable in utilizing nanoimprint lithography. While utilizing the imprinting technology, the team will also keep a regular tab on crystallinity, molecular orientation, stability and thermal dynamics of the solar cell material’s plastic polymer surface to maximize light absorption and increase their overall efficiency.
Moreover, Dr. Hu’s team is serious on energy payback and carbon emission offsetting. It means that they will make sure that the production of these cells doesn’t expend too much energy. A new $330,000 grant from the National Science Foundation is aiding the entire project.
Dr. Hu, the assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, believes that after solving “the problem of engineering materials at the nanoscale to improve solar cell performance,” it will be perfectly possible to develop the power conversion ratio. He is getting ample support from Dr. J.C. Hummelen from the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and Anvar Zakhidov, a renowned expert in solar cells at the UT Dallas Nanotech Institute on device architectures.
Via: UT Dallas News